Practice is Perfect
by BaSingTei
Summary: Korra and Bolin are left to practice without their captain, while sparring ensues and an angsty conversation reveals untold feelings.


**A/N: Hey! So I know I am supposed to be working on New Journey right now, but this little thing came up! I am going to make this teen friendly as opposed to Rough Territory. Making this not smut is actually going to be difficult for me, but I just can't get this situation out of my head. Here you go. Borra lovers unite! (Of course I kind of just want Bolin for myself but hey, this works too.) This takes place after episode 5, "The Spirit of Competition". Borra is NOT CANON (yet) , unfortunately, so Korra might seem a little out of character here, but I had to do that to make this whole situation work.**

**Disclaimer: I have no rights to any of the LOK/ATLA universe, no matter how hard I wish I did.**

Korra heard the sound of clay discs clashing together as she neared the gym door, her gear bag slung over her shoulder. She could hear the grunts from Bolin, already hard at work. She was late. Again. She cringed at the thought of Mako nagging her to be punctual for practice. He just didn't understand. She was a busy girl. And not a morning person. She sighed and braced herself for his barrage, walking in through the doors as two more clay discs found their target with a thud to the floor after hitting the net. Bolin threw his arms up in the air, apparently proud of his perfect shot.

"And what an amazing turnaround! Bolin comes in with a knock out and to crowd goes crazy!" He said with a fist pump, imitating the probending announcer Shiro. He then started to make cheering crowd noises, not noticing Korra come in. She laughed and he turned to her this his arms still in the air, a big smile on his face. He was always happy to see her.

"A knock out huh? Just one?" Korra called to him with a smug smirk on her face, striding over to the water tank and dropping her gear bag.

He shrugged with a chuckle. "Well, we can't all be as amazing as you."

She laughed and knelt down, unzipping her bag and grabbing her gear. "Hey, those Buzzard Wasps were dumb enough to let me line them up." The Avatar looked around while putting on her bottoms over her own pants and changing her shoes, a little relieved when she saw they were alone. "Where's Mako?"

Bolin wiped the sweat from his brow with a small huff. "He picked up an extra shift at the power plant. It was a last minute thing. You know how he is when it comes to working..." He took his stance again, hopping on the balls of his feet and throwing two more discs to the net with very precise throws.

She noted his strength, slipping her top piece on. "Good shot. Nice power. That shoulder must treating you well."

"Only because of you! You're a great healer." He said getting back out of his stance, motioning to her with one hand.

She smiled again and slipped her torso piece on, tying the blue sash around her middle. "I did learn from the best healer in the world."

"She taught you well." He grinned, rolling his right arm in circles. "I can't feel a thing."

Korra took another look around the gym and looked back to him, who was getting back into his stance. "Well, since he's not coming, do you want to solo practice, pass that ball around, or spar?"

He gave her a curious look and dropped his hands to his hips. "We could spar, but don't think I'll go easy on you. I've got some serious moves, and you know it."

She laughed and bent some water out of the holding tank, walking to the center of the gym and staking her stance. "Let's see what you've got."

Bolin beamed at her and bent a whole pile of discs to the center of the gym, separating them into two smaller columns and standing between them, getting deep into his stance. "Ladies first."

"Such a gentleman." Said and quickly sent two streams of water towards him, one straight for his middle, the other for his head in a high arc from the left. He bent up a disc to guard his middle and dodged the headshot, sending three earth discs her way; one to take out her feet, the other two above her head where she would have to jump to avoid the first. She did jump but was quick to freeze water over her fists, punching the two discs into clay dust. Before she could throw anything back at him, Bolin started to protest.

"Waterbender foul!" Bolin shouted, pointing at her. "You can't use ice! All water must remain in liquid form!" She said and folded his arms.

"Aw come on Bolin, we're just sparing. Only rule in sparring is no headshots. Well, besides form me." She said with a little smirk.

"Korra, if you're not going to train by the rules, then what if you get used to it and go crazy in the next match; the most important match of our lives!" His brow crinkled a little bit in frustration at her.

"Wow, I expected this kind of talk from Mako, but I thought you would be more fun." She said with a little pout.

"Hey, I am tons of fun! I proved that the other night!" He said defensively. "But we need to stick to the rules. No more ice." He took his stance again and waited for her to attack.

She got back into her stance still a little pouty. "Fine. No more ice. If you want to be the wet blanket..."An evil smile spread across her face. "I'll make sure of that." She sent a large stream of water right for him. He wasn't ready. It hit him square in the gut, knocking him flat onto his back with a grunt. He stayed there for a moment and then leaned up on his elbows, giving her a disgruntled look, his hair stuck to his face and dripping.

"Thanks..."He said with a little huff. She laughed and was quickly at his side, offering him a hand.

"Sorry, I was sure you were gonna block that. You looked ready." She said as he took her hand, helping him up. She stood with his arms limp a little hunched over.

"Yeah well your trash talk kind of distracted me. So I guess I'll just have to practice wet then." He said as he took a step, his shoes squishing.

"Not a problem." She said and waved her hands in the air, pulling all of the water out of his gear, leaving him dry as a bone. She bent it back over to the tank and realized something. "Although I can't separate sweat from water... but that water's not for drinking anyway." She smiled and looked to the discs that were still behind them, then back to him. "So, ready for round two or have you had enough of me?"

"I could never have enough of you Korra." It just came out. So genuine with a soft look on his face. He, realizing what he had just put out there, tried to backpedal franticly. "I mean sparing! I love sparing with you! It's the best!" He said with a nervous grin, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Bolin..." She said carefully, rubbing her arm and looking down. "You always say things like that to me. And I never know how to respond... I'm not exactly used to that kind of attention."

He was quiet for a while, arguing with himself. He wanted to tell her how much she deserved that attention, but he knew it would just make this situation worse. "Can we just forget I said that?"

She looked up at him. "I can't just ignore that you have feelings for me. Or the fact that I keep hurting you..." This whole conversation had gotten so heavy so quick. Neither was sure of what to say. He took a step closer to her, closing the distance between them and sighing.

"Look, you said the other night for all of us to just remain friends. If that's all you feel for me, I can't change that. I'll gladly be your friend."

"I never said how I felt about you Bolin. I just see us being friends really difficult when you can be so open about your feelings and I'm all twisted up inside and confused about my own..." She looked down again, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"Wait, you're confused?" He said, a small flicker of hope starting to light in his heart and feeling buttermoths in his stomach. He was sure she liked Mako, but if she was confused, that had to mean that she felt something for him too. "But you kissed Mako. You like him."

"But you and I had so much fun the other night... it's just so easy with you..." The emotional turmoil she was undergoing at this very moment was written all over her face. Bolin wanted to reach out to comfort her but was scared of being shot down again. Instead he tried to make her confront herself.

"So what are you saying Korra?" He asked softly, not taking his eyes off of her.

She felt her stomach do flips. She couldn't fight with herself anymore. The truth was evident.

"That... I do have feelings for you." She looked up into his eyes finally and held her hands at her side, trying to be confident in her confession.

Bolin was so joyful but completely in shock. Hearing that the girl of his dreams, the girl who he loved from the very second he saw her had feelings for him on level other than friendship made his heart pound in his chest. They just stared at each other for a while, trying to process this bold declaration, until Korra looked away from Bolin. Yet again she had confessed her feelings to someone and yet again she was not getting the reaction she had hoped for. She had basically just given Bolin the green light and he was just standing there, staring at her. She felt embarrassment and regret crawl through her stomach as she grabbed her arm again, waiting for him to say something. It felt like an eternity before he spoke.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked very carefully.

The question confused her. She thought about it for a few moments until finally responding. "I'm not sure what you're asking."

"Don't get me wrong, I am so unbelievably happy at this moment, you have no idea. But I don't want to do something that is going to make you regret what you said. I don't want to ruin what we have. Not unless we go somewhere you want to go...You need to tell me what you want me to do. Where are we going to go from here?"

"Ugh I don't know! That's the problem! I don't know anything about relationships!" She threw her hands in the air as she spoke, feeling so overwhelmed. She felt like she was going to be sick and her blood was pulsing in her ears. "I've never had to deal with any of these feelings before I came up here to the city! I have no idea what I am doing or what I'm gonna do!"

"Korra, calm down." He said and put his hands on her shoulders. "We'll figure this out."

"What if we don't? What if we just stay stuck in this place where we like each other but we can't do anything about it because no matter what I do, I end up hurting someone."

"Korra, stop. This isn't helping."

"Nothing is going to help! This whole situation is just going to keep spiraling and spiraling until one of us torn apart."

"Korra..." Bolin came forward and held her to him, kissing her softly on lips that were still trying to protest. At first she was shocked and didn't return his kiss, but she soon settled into his lips, kissing him back very gently. He was the first to pull away. He looked to her, trying to gauge if he had just destroyed something or started something. Korra opened her aqua blue eyes and there was a blush on her face. She didn't say anything, just gazed at him, watching him try to read her. He spoke after a few moments.

"What do you want?" he asked very quietly in a husky tone.

She didn't say what she wanted, she showed what she wanted. She leaned forward and kissed him with a fiery passion that he had never felt before from anyone. Bolin was blissfully eager to return her kiss. He was aware of how close they were and suddenly their gear was much too heavy. Her arms wrapped around his thick neck and she made the kiss deeper, slipping her tongue along his lips, asking for permission. He was quick to grant her anything she wanted from that point on, slipping into a territory he had never thought he would enter with her.

About twenty minutes later, Mako was walking towards the gym with his bag. There had been a miscommunication about his extra shift and he had been told to go home; someone else picked it up. He wasn't in the greatest mood. He had really been looking forward to earning some extra cash and to buying something nice for Asami for a change. He sighed in disappointment but when he heard the grunts and groans coming from the gym he perked up. He could hear his team, hard at work obviously, training without him. It made him feel a since of pride that he could trust them to actually train when he was away and not just blow the day off. He walked towards the doors and stepped through them.

"Hey guys, I'm glad to see you-" He couldn't finish his sentence. All he saw was the bare backside of his brother on the other side of the gym and the dark limbs of the Avatar wrapped around him, caught between his brother and the wall, their clothes and gear scattered around the floor. Bolin stopped and looked over his shoulder, meeting his brother's eyes awkwardly. There was a deafening silence before someone spoke.

"Really!?" Mako shouted in frustration. "I leave you two to just train and this is what I find!?"

"Bro, can we have this conversation later please? I'm a little busy." Korra stayed silent and didn't dare look at Mako. Mako yelled in anger and punched the door, leaving as quickly as he came, storming off to their tiny attic apartment. Bolin turned his attention back to Korra and chuckled a bit.

"I guess the gym was not exactly the best place to do this..."

"Is that going to stop you? I mean we have the place for another twenty minutes..." Korra asked suggestively.  
"Not a chance!" He said and caught her lips in his, continuing form where they were interrupted.


End file.
